


Tfw you wanna smooch your son's babysitter

by Asier



Category: Thrilling Intent (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-20
Updated: 2017-07-04
Packaged: 2018-11-16 09:38:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11250462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asier/pseuds/Asier
Summary: Ashe needs a babysitter short notice and Kyl'il comes with great reviews. Unfortunately for Ashe, Kyl'il is pretty damn hot and nice to be around. And unfortunately for Kyl'il, she might just think the same about Ashe. The question on these ladies' minds: Is it really okay to date your son's babysitter?





	1. Getting the babysitter

**Author's Note:**

> Didn't want to start posting this until it was finished, but Ashe is a lesbian (or at least into women) and I'm super pumped and feeling great because of that, so in celebration here's the start of my newest fic for the rare-pair that's captured my heart.

Ashe frowned at her phone as she gently tugged a comb through Charoth’s hair. She was still adjusting to having a small child in her life – she’d only just adopted him a month ago after bonding with him while she, Markus, and Gregor had worked on repairs for an orphanage. The addition of a child to her home and daily routine hadn’t been particularly earth-shattering, at least not after setting up his room – after taking care of that no major problems had arisen. The adjustments needed were simply a matter of scheduling issues, easily resolved if only she had a babysitter.

The problem with that was, as of yet, she hadn’t had the chance to do an in-depth search for one and the idea of leaving Charoth alone with a stranger whose babysitting skills she couldn’t be sure were high quality made her nervous. To make matters worse, since she didn’t know anyone else with children she wasn’t even sure where she should start her search, other than googling babysitters in her area – a method that could potentially turn up sketchy results.

Due to this, her babysitter dilemma was something she’d been relatively content to put off – taking Charoth with her to the odd jobs she and the boys did for a living; Charoth being a well-behaved child and the jobs they’d been getting recently being nothing too dangerous or lengthy. Just now, though, Markus had texted her news that posed a threat to the nice ‘babysitter avoidance’ thing she had going.

The hand combing through Charoth’s hair stilled while she started at her phone, held in the other. Buried in exclamation marks and emojis of party poppers and sparkles was the announcement that he had been chatting up someone in the checkout line at the supermarket and it turned out that the person’s sister wanted a treehouse built and long story short he’d accepted the job on behalf of her and Gregor.

The good news: it was really well paying.

The bad news: it would take a couple days and they’d be out at the woman’s house from early morning until late afternoon.

Ashe had a strong suspicion that even a good kid like Charoth would go stir-crazy if taken along on a job like this. Her frown deepening further, Ashe set her phone aside and resumed combing Charoth’s hair – finishing up, squeezing the excess water out of it with a towel, and letting him go on his way before dealing with the tough spot Markus had put her in.

Once she had finished, Ashe retrieved her phone, typing out, ‘When are we supposed to start? I don’t have a babysitter.’

A ding signaled Markus’s reply about a minute later. ‘2 days. You’re not taking Charoth along this time?’

Ashe read the text, then read it again. _Two days_? How the hell was she going to find someone she trusted to watch Charoth in _two days_? She whispered a soft, emphatic, “Fuck,” and bit down hard on her lower lip.

‘No, I can’t take him on a job that’ll have us out all day. He’ll get bored. Though, I’m not sure I’ll even be able to get a babysitter on such short notice. I guess this is what I get for putting finding one off for so long.’

Minutes passed. Charoth came back into the living room, asking for his finger paints. Ashe got them for him then returned the comb, hair products, and towel to the bathroom. She was just getting around to opening her laptop to start her desperate search for the perfect babysitter when her notification sound went off again.

It was Markus. ‘Kyr has that one neighbor.’

Ashe’s eyebrows furrowed. ‘The only neighbor I know about it the one he says hates him.’

‘Yeah, her. I thought her mentioned something about her babysitting for a living so I asked and he said she does.’

‘But she hates him. Doesn’t it seem kind of strange to have a person that hates a friend of mine look after my kid?’

‘1. You’ve only got today and tomorrow to look for somebody, 2. Kyr admits the hate could have something to do with numerous noise complaints he’s gotten and that fire that one time, and 3. he says she’s got good reviews. It’s at least worth checking out to see if she’s taking new kids now, right?’

Ashe deliberated, looked at Charoth, thought about how much money they were going to make from doing this job – finally she typed out, ‘Good reviews?’

‘Great reviews.’

‘What’s her number?’

The call to the babysitter, Kyl’il, had gone over smoothly enough. Ashe had been relieved to hear that she was taking new kids, her capacity of ten having recently gotten a vacancy due to a family’s move. Even more relieving was the positive, albeit hesitant, reaction she’d had to Ashe’s news that she would need her to watch Charoth in two days. The minuscule warning time had elicited a pause from Kyl’il, during which Ashe had felt her hopes sinking into the inky black depths of despair and anxiety.

“I know this is really short notice. Is it a problem? Because I can try to find someone else if you can’t watch him on that day,” Ashe had said, apologetic and resigned to her fate.

But then Kyl’il, like an angel, had replied with a slow, “No, I can watch him,” and Ashe had sent out a ‘thank you’ to every deity in the universe. “I was just a bit startled. First times aren’t usually scheduled so last minute.”

“Ah, yeah. The job came really suddenly. I would’ve preferred to have some advance warning too but…” Ashe had trailed off and cleared her throat.

“I understand. Now, I don’t know if your prior babysitters did this, but I like to meet the kids beforehand and finalize information with the parents in person – show them around, talk to them about nap times, meal times, allergies, etcetera. So does today or tomorrow work better for you?”

And that was how, in the late afternoon of the next day, Ashe found herself pulling up to a house in Kyr’s, honestly, startlingly nice neighborhood. As it turned out, Kyl’il was the owner of the cottage-style home that Ashe had been admiring from afar for ages now – ivy growing in a controlled way up the walls, large windows with sills bursting with potted flowers, trees liberally spread about, and a small playground just barely visible around back.

Ashe parked her car in the driveway and approached the front door, the scent of flowers perfuming the air, with Charoth in her arms. She glanced between the door and the doorbell before deciding to knock.

The door was opened by a tall woman with dark skin and long, black hair; clothed in a dress that fluttered down just past her knees. “You must be Ashe?” the woman, Kyl’il – Ashe assumed, asked.

“Yeah, nice to meet you,” Ashe replied.

Kyl’il nodded and stepped out of the doorway. “Come on in. All the kids are gone for the day, so it’ll just be the three of us.” Ashe walked into the house, the door opening into a small hallway with a closet and shoe rack – rooms to the right and left. “You can leave your shoes on if you want, the carpet’s already messy from the kids; extra dirt won’t hurt.”

Kyl’il led the way into the room on the left. A child-sized table and chairs were near the doorway, the rest of the room an open area except for the couch and toy boxes lining the far wall. Kyl’il turned to face Ashe, the movement sending the scent of flowers in her direction. Kyl’il smiled at Charoth and waved. Charoth looked up at Ashe then waved back, tentatively.

“He can play with the toys while we talk, if he wants,” Kyl’il said.

Ashe peered at Charoth, who stared in the direction of the toys. “You want down?” He nodded. His feet had barely touched the ground when he took off, raiding the toy boxes.

“He’s adorable,” Kyl’il said, as she watched Ashe stare after her child.

“I know, right?”

With a ‘follow me’ gesture, Kyl’il led Ashe back through the hallway into the room on the right – the kitchen. It was difficult to form an opinion of someone in such a short period of time, but Kyl’il was fairly certain that Ashe was a person she’d be happy to work with given how she interacted with her child.

They both sat down across from each other at Kyl’il’s kitchen table, Ashe listening attentively as Kyl’il spoke. Her fingers fidgeted on the table top while Kyl’il detailed her usual schedule for the children, her policy of not being able to watch kids if they were badly sick with something contagious, how she always cleaned the toys at the end of the day, as well as many other pieces of information she believed a parent needed or might want to know.

Ashe nodded frequently throughout the discussion – her short, light hair bouncing from the movement; the thought that it was cute being something that Kyl’il repeatedly had to push aside. When she finally finished talking, Kyl’il asked if Ashe had any questions and upon receiving a, “No,” in response she pushed a paper and pen towards Ashe.

“Alright,” Kyl’il said. “Last thing I need from you is emergency contact information and I can let you go.” As Ashe began jotting numbers down Kyl’il noticed what appeared to be the tips of tattoos, stark against her pale skin, peaking out of the collar of her shirt. She vaguely wondered what the rest of them looked like, but her curiosity wasn’t strong enough to get her to ask.

The paper filled out, they went to retrieve Charoth from the living room. Once perfectly tidy, it was now scattered with toys.

“Oh boy,” Ashe muttered. “Do you want some help cleaning this up?”

“Kyl’il waved away her concern. “No, no. Don’t worry about it. Thank you for the offer though.”

Ashe frowned, looked at Charoth, looked at the mess. Her eyes briefly caught Kyl’il’s; Ashe cleared her throat, her gaze darting away. It didn’t feel right to leave her to clean up on her own, but it also felt strange to try to push her help on a stranger.

In the end, though it bothered her, Ashe decided to listen to Kyl’il and left – Charoth returned to her arms and Kyl’il seeing them out with a wave and a, “See you tomorrow.”


	2. Crushing on the babysitter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's chapter 2 because I struggle with making people wait for something that's already done.

Dropping Charoth off in the morning had been hard – on Ashe, anyway. She wouldn’t be picking him up until around 7:00 p.m. and she could see the hours without him stretching out before her. Since she had adopted him, they’d had yet to spend so much time apart and while Charoth had seemed perfectly okay with being passed off to Kyl’il – more than happy to resume his playing from the other night – Ashe had been seriously debating taking him on the job with her, as she had been doing up until this point.

Was this separation anxiety?

As she stared after where Charoth had run, joining the sounds of other children in the living room, Kyl’il’s smile and promise to take good care of him were a comfort.

At the home of the woman who Ashe and the boys were building a treehouse for, Ashe sighed. A hammer came down on her thumb and she cursed. She dropped the hammer to the grass and gripped her hand – thumb throbbing – to her chest, trying to breathe through the pain.

“You okay Ashe?” Markus asked.

“Fine,” Ashe choked out. “I just need a minute.”

“Are you sure?” Gregor asked. “You’re not bleeding?”

Ashe peered at her thumb – bright red and starting to swell. “I’m not bleeding.”

“I’m gonna go get you some ice.”

“Thanks Gregor,” Ashe said as he ran off in the direction of the house.

Markus watched him go, then turned back to Ashe. “Maybe Kyl’il would send you pictures of Charoth over Snapchat.”

“What? Why would I need that?” The pain only made it more difficult to make sense of whatever nonsense Markus was trying to get across.

“You smashed your thumb with a hammer because you were distracted.”

At that, his logic clicked into place. “Who says I was distracted thinking about Charoth?”

“I don’t think there’s anything else you care about that much.”

“I care about things,” Ashe replied, defensive. “I watch dramas. I worry about taxes.”

“You have never, in all the time I’ve known you, bludgeoned your thumb for either of those reasons.”

Gregor ran up, Ziploc bag filled with ice in-hand, bringing an end to the argument. He passed the bag to Ashe. Markus took out his phone. Ashe hissed as she pressed the ice to her thumb; the throbbing continued. Markus put his phone to his ear.

“Who’re you calling?” Gregor asked.

“Ashe’s babysitter,” Markus replied.

“ _Excuse me_?” Ashe said. “I specifically told you that I didn’t-”

Markus placed a finger over her mouth and had his hand slapped away. “She answered,” he whispered.

“Hang up!” Ashe whispered back.

Markus did _not_ hang up, even after a punch to the stomach and a kick in the shins, and within minutes of his call Ashe was adding Kyl’il as a friend on Snapchat and receiving videos and pictures of Charoth, her feelings on the matter a mix of embarrassment and happiness.

The day shifted into evening and soon enough Ashe was arriving at Kyl’il’s home to pick up Charoth. The sky was still bright – summer lengthened nights – and Ashe could feel the beginnings of a sunburn on her shoulders and nose. She knocked on Kyl’il’s door and waited.

Kyl’il answered a minute later, her head turned in the direction of her kitchen for a few seconds more before giving Ashe her full attention. She was wiping her hands on a hand-towel; water was splashed up the front of her dress.

“Hello Ashe,” Kyl’il said. She stepped aside, letting Ashe into the house. “Charoth fell asleep just a little bit ago.” She smiled, pressed a couple fingers to her mouth as if to hide it, and said, “I would have sent you pictures, but I took advantage of his sleeping to try to deal with something.”

“That’s _so_ not necessary,” Ashe said, the embarrassment from earlier coming back full force. “My friend was exaggerating. I was fine.”

“But you opened everything I sent you so quickly,” Kyl’il replied, a faint trace of teasing in her tone.

Ashe opened her mouth to protest, but closed it upon realizing that Kyl’il’s statement was true and that she was being kind in not bringing up how frequently Ashe had replayed the pictures and videos, showing them to Gregor and Markus – not that Kyl’il would have known that much.

In place of a rebuttal, Ashe offered an excuse. “It’s the first time I’ve spent so long apart from him is all.”

“You don’t have to defend yourself. I think it’s sweet.”

Ashe felt even more embarrassed. In an act of desperation, she changed the subject. “By the way, is there are reason you’re all wet?” She made a vague gesture at Kyl’il’s dress.

Kyl’il looked down, pulled at the wet area extending from her chest to her stomach – the dress tugged up from her knees to mid-thigh. Ashe stubbornly stared at her face, refusing to ogle her son’s hot babysitter. Kyl’il made a soft, displeased noise; dropped the fabric she’d pinched between her fingers.

“That would be from the thing I mentioned I was trying to deal with.” She sighed. “My faucet’s acting up. It looks like I’ll have to call a plumber.”

Ashe peered past Kyl’il towards the kitchen, understanding her earlier distraction. “I’m not a plumber, but I know how to fix lots of stuff. Do you want me to look at it for you?”

“Oh, no. I can’t keep you out any later than I already have talking with you. I’m sure you want to get yourself and your son home.”

Ashe shrugged. “You said Charoth’s asleep and I don’t have anything important to do. Besides, if there’s something I can do about your problem it shouldn’t take me more than an hour.”

Kyl’il considered, looked towards her kitchen, looked back at Ashe. “Well,” she began, “in that case I _would_ really appreciate it.”

“Cool. I’ll go get some stuff from my car then see what I can do.”

Half an hour later Ashe was wet and drying her arms with the hand-towel that Kyl’il had been using earlier, Charoth was still sound asleep, the sink was fixed, and Ashe and Kyl’il had finished a scattered chat about the interesting parts of each other’s day – interruptions in the form of Ashe needing to focus on what she was doing having made maintaining continuous conversation impossible.

At some point, Kyl’il had excused herself to change out of her still damp dress and had returned in low-slung sweatpants and a loose tank top, resulting in a distracted Ashe getting sprayed in the face and all down her front with water.

After having tested the sink and proclaimed it fixed – with no more major distraction-induced incidents, Ashe having forced herself to stay focused – Kyl’il had thanked her. Ashe had insisted it was no problem and asked if there was anything she could dry off with.

Watching Ashe dry her arms, all the way up to her elbows, Kyl’il felt she had to do something to repay her for taking the time to help her out.

Ashe’s shirt was wet and her hair had finished drying just a couple minutes ago. With that in mind Kyl’il asked, “Should I borrow you a shirt?”

Ashe paused her drying. “Huh?”

“That way you don’t have to leave all wet.”

“Oh.” Ashe waved a hand, brushing aside Kyl’il’s concern. “Nah, it’s alright. It’s summer so I won’t freeze when I walk outside or anything.”

Kyl’il frowned. “What about paying you? How much?”

Ashe set the towel down on Kyl’il’s counter, grabbed her box of tools from the floor. “No need. I helped you to be friendly, not to get paid.”

Nevertheless, Kyl’il felt as though there had to be something she could do in return. She crossed her arms, stared at Ashe. Ashe, upon noticing she was being scrutinized, fidgeted. One of her hands reached up to tug at her hair. “Since you won’t let me pay you,” Kyl’il began, hit with inspiration “how about some aloe for your burns? At the very least.”

“Do they look that bad?” Ashe asked. Her hand shifted from her hair to her nose, pressing lightly – she winced a bit, the skin tender and warm. “Actually, yeah, some aloe would be nice.”

Kyl’il nodded and stepped into the hallway that led to her bedroom, Ashe staying behind in the kitchen. In Kyl’il’s room were a few potted plants, of various types, placed before a large window that looked out at her backyard. She grabbed a pair of scissors from her dresser and cut off a piece of aloe. Upon returning to the kitchen Ashe wasn’t where Kyl’il had left her – her toolbox abandoned beside the hand towel on the counter. Kyl’il walked through the kitchen and into the living room.

The last of the few children Kyl’il had been watching that day had been picked up around 6:00, leaving the couch open for Charoth to sleep on – rather than the mats that Kyl’il had stored away in a closet. Ashe was kneeling in front of the sleeping Charoth, petting his hair.

Kyl’il approached quietly, leaned against the end of the couch. Ashe looked up at her and Kyl’il held up the piece of aloe for her to see. Ashe’s head tilted a bit to the side, then she stood up with one last pat to Charoth’s head and followed Kyl’il a few steps away from the couch.

“When you said aloe, I thought you meant lotion,” Ashe whispered.

Kyl’il’s eyebrows furrowed. “I don’t think I have any of that,” she whispered back.

“It’s not a problem or anything, I was just surprised to see the actual aloe _plant_.”

“It’s alright then?”

“Yeah, it’s totally fine.”

“Good. I’d feel bad if I kept you waiting for something you don’t actually want.” Kyl’il grabbed Ashe lightly by her chin. “This might sting.” She dragged the aloe down Ashe’s nose.

It took Ashe’s brain a couple of seconds to catch up with the situation. By that point, Kyl’il had already moved on and rubbed the aloe across one of her cheeks.

“Um, Kyl’il?” Ashe forgot to lower her voice. Her head jerked back, slipping out of Kyl’il’s fingers.

Kyl’il, for her part, looked very confused. “Did it hurt that badly?”

“No?” Kyl’il was close enough to Ashe that her floral scent wasn’t overpowered by the aloe. “I can do it myself though?” Ashe’s heartbeat was too fast, her body becoming flushed. She didn’t take a step back.

Understanding dawned on Kyl’il; a slight widening of her eyes, her mouth falling into a small ‘o’. “I’m sorry,” she said. She _did_ take a step back. She then held out the aloe, offering it to Ashe, not looking her in the eyes. “Working with kids all the time can get you a little mixed up.”

Ashe took the aloe. She felt awkward and hyper-aware of Kyl’il – the memory of the feeling of Kyl’il’s fingers clung to her skin, soft and delicate. Somehow, though her head was wrapped around thoughts of how nice Kyl’il smelled and how pretty she had looked up so close, Ashe found herself replying as she rubbed the aloe onto her face and shoulders. “That makes sense. You must be putting sunscreen and aloe on the kids a lot this time of year.” Ashe thought her voice might have sounded a bit strained.

Kyl’il didn’t seem to notice; taking the aloe back when Ashe was done and nodding. “Mostly sunscreen. I do my best to keep the kids from getting burned.”

“Right.” A pause, then, “Well, I should really get going with Charoth now.”

“Of course.”

Ashe went over to him and picked him up. He stirred a bit, glanced around, quickly settled back into sleep. The poor thing must have played to the point of exhaustion.

Once Charoth was settled in her arms, Kyl’il walked Ashe to the door. “Thanks again for fixing my sink,” she said.

“If you ever have any other problems let me know. As long as I’m not busy I’d be happy to help you.”

Kyl’il smiled. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

During the drive home Ashe kept touching her chin – trying to shake the feeling of having missed out on a great opportunity. “She’s the babysitter,” Ashe muttered to herself. “Charoth’s babysitter. I can’t go around crushing on the fucking babysitter.”

Kyl’il, after having closed and locker her door, tossed out the aloe. She then threw herself down on one of the chairs in her kitchen, letting her head fall to the table. She felt embarrassed. Things like what had just transpired with Ashe and the aloe had happened to her before, but it’d been a while since her last incident. She’d honestly thought she’d broken that bad habit. Granted, it had also been a while since the last time she’d spend a decent amount of time with another adult. She supposed there could be some correlation there.

She made a soft whining noise in the back of her throat and turned her head so her cheek was pressed against the table. Ashe had looked so surprised when she’d jerked herself backwards – all wide-eyed. Seeing her when she dropped off Charoth in the morning was going to be awkward.

At that thought, Kyl’il huffed out a sigh. A feeling of loss at the idea of distancing herself from Ashe, or vice versa, due to her slip up encroached. It really had been a long time since she’d last had a nice conversation with someone – the neighbors she’d been friendly with having moved out months ago.

She then spotted Ashe’s toolbox, still sitting on her counter. She stared at it. On one hand, it would guarantee that their interaction tomorrow morning wouldn’t end at an uncomfortable “Hello,” but on the other hand, it would serve as a reminder of Kyl’il’s mistake – dredging up her feelings of embarrassment.

Kyl’il continued to stare at the toolbox.

She stared and stared and stared, until she finally came to a decision. It was simple. She would just act as if nothing had happened.


	3. Being crushed on by the babysitter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was all about this chapter while writing it so hopefully it's stunning and gives you good, fluttery, fuzzy feelings

Ashe was nervous. Really nervous. ‘The crush is alive and well despite logic’s attempt at quashing it’ nervous. Parked in Kyl’il’s driveway, she adjusted her hair for a few minutes in her car’s mirror before getting out, helping Charoth out of his car seat, pulling him up into her arms. Carrying him put her at ease and made the trip to Kyl’il’s front door possible.

When Kyl’il answered, Ashe barely had time to say, “Hello,” before Kyl’il was sweeping off into her kitchen while throwing an, “I have something for you,” over her shoulder. Ashe stood for a moment, then hesitantly crosses the threshold, setting Charoth down when he began wiggling impatiently. As soon as his feet hit the ground, he abandoned her for the toys and Ashe was left to wonder, alone, what Kyl’il could possibly need to give her.

Kyl’il returned a few seconds after Charoth’s departure with Ashe’s toolbox in hand and Ashe felt an odd sense of disappointment. She wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting, but this did not meet those hopes, vague though they were.

“You forgot this yesterday,” Kyl’il said, passing the toolbox off to her.

“Oh.” Ashe took it. “I must have been in such a rush leaving that I didn’t realize.” Ashe’s fingers brushed Kyl’il’s on the handle. Her heart stuttered – Ashe did her best to ignore it.

“It’s a good thing you were bringing Charoth by today. You must need that for your work?”

“Yeah.” Ashe nodded. “I can just imagine the shit the guys would give me if I showed up without my stuff.” Namely a bunch of suggestive comments about her shacking up with her son’s babysitter under the premise of doing repairs, like some kind of stereotypical porn video.

Honestly? Thank god Kyl’il had gotten this back to her, she wasn’t sure she could handle the teasing and was positive she couldn’t get out of it without her crush becoming glaringly obvious. The last thing she needed was to mix Gregor and Markus in with her love life. The very thought of it made her feel exhausted.

“Glad I could help,” Kyl’il said. Then, “You’re picking Charoth up after 7:00 again, right?”

“Yes, I am.” Ashe took a step back – through the still open door and onto the threshold, she leaned against the doorframe, prepared to leave but not quite ready to. The sounds of the children drifted over to them and Ashe was reminded of how devoid of their presence the place had been when she’d picked Charoth up last night. “By the way,” she began, curious, “when I came yesterday Charoth was the last one here.”

Kyl’il moved to peer into the living room, checking on the children before turning back to Ashe. “Yes.”

“Do other parents usually get their kids earlier?”

Kyl’il frowned. “It depends. I work until 8:00 so you’re fine, but I guess most of the time my work day ends between 5:00 and 6:00, unless any of the parents are having a date night. Why?”

Ashe rubbed the back of her neck. “In that case, I could help you clean up. I know last time I asked you said I didn’t have to and that I pick up Charoth before 8:00 so it’s technically fine, but if Charoth’s going to be the last one here and I’m keeping you later than you usually work I figured I’d offer.”

Kyl’il debated telling Ashe that she would literarily be paying her back for watching Charoth with money and didn’t need to do so by helping her clean. But after having spent time talking to Ashe yesterday, Kyl’il had decided that she liked her. In the end, the temptation of company she could enjoy and assistance with something that would take her around an hour to do by herself won out.

“I’d appreciate that.”

...................

Despite being a few minutes late, the boys didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary with Ashe. Unfortunately for Ashe, their intern, Firi, was coming along with them today and her exclamation of, “Wow, something good must have happened to you Ashe! You look all glowy,” got their full attention. Now, Ashe loved Firi, but at that moment she would have given anything for her to have not been coming along with them.

Ashe was immediately subject to the scrutiny of the boys and then hit with a barrage of questions – ranging from general pestering about why she was so happy to outrageous guesses at what could have possibly happened – while they worked. She deflected it all, working hard to give them the impression that they were wasting their time and that Firi had been mistaken.

Gregor ended up being the one to make the lucky guess. Ashe had pulled out her phone, taking a quick break to watch a few Snaps that Kyl’il had sent her, when Gregor apparently put two and two together and said, “Does it have anything to do with your new babysitter?”

Ashe’s, “What? No!” was admittedly a bit too loud and a bit too defensive.

Firi chiming in with, “Have you fallen in love Ashe?” didn’t help matters in the slightest.

Ashe whirled around to face Firi, arms thrown up in a kind of ‘what the hell?’ gesture. “ _Why_ would you jump to something so drastic?” A crush on a virtual stranger was far from being in love and the mention of something as strong as ‘love’ threw Ashe even further into self-consciousness.

“Your face is turning really pink Ashe,” Gregor said.

Ashe took a deep, calming breath. “Thanks, Gregor, for saying that. I was actually already suspicious that it was, but thanks.” She shoved her phone into her back pocket, surveyed the three of them and, arms crossed, said, “So are you guys satisfied? Can we stop talking about this now?”

“Absolutely,” Markus replied. He walked up to her; an arm was thrown over her shoulders. She eyed him, wary. “For the moment, anyway.” And _there_ it was.

Ashe rolled her eyes and shook herself out of Markus’s grip. “No matter how much you ask, I’m not about to start gossiping about a crush to you.”

“Yeah, okay, that’s fine. I don’t need all the personal details or for you to wax poetry about how hot she is or how in love you are-”

“I never said anything about love!”

“-but,” Markus continued, around her interruption, “I _am_ curious about any developments that happen.” Ashe gave him a tired look. “Gregor, Firi, back me up here.”

“Yeah,” Gregor said, “I’m pretty sure friends keep each other informed on this stuff and don’t usually go off and get themselves secret girlfriends.”

“Come on!” Ashe exclaimed. “I’m not _that_ bad. I’d at least tell you guys if I actually started dating someone.”

“But that wouldn’t tell me anything about her,” Firi interjected. “I’m a little more interested in your happiness than that.”

“Oh.” Ashe immediately deflated; defensiveness vanishing in the face of such a pure motive. “If that’s why you want to know, I guess I wouldn’t be _so_ opposed to giving you updates.” Before triumphant expressions could fully settle on their faces Ashe charged on with, “But that’s irrelevant with Kyl’il because there won’t be any developments.”

“Aw, don’t sell yourself short,” Gregor said, patting her on the shoulder. “You’re a great person.”

“That’s… not why I said that, thank you though. I just, you know, can’t date my son’s babysitter. What am I gonna do if I ask her out and she turns me down? I’d never be able to take Charoth back there again. It’d be too embarrassing.”

“I think,” Markus said, “that’s a problem for the potential future – though, there are slim chases of this future, I’m sure – where her turning you down is actually a thing.”

Ashe stared at him. “I didn’t quite follow that. Can you say it again, slower.”

“Basically, what I’m getting at is, you can’t give up without trying. You’re never going to get anything you want that way.”

“Ah. Well. Personally, I’m a-okay with giving up without trying. Sorry to disappoint.”

“But that’s just depressing!”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m sure it is.” Ashe waved her hand dismissively. “Now, are we going to get back to work or…”

.......................

The drive to Kyl’il house that evening had Ashe nervous all over again. Firi and the boys had dropped the topic of her crush on Kyl’il after she’d insisted nothing would come of it, but ‘love’ and ‘you can’t give up without trying’ had continued to pester her throughout the rest of the day – especially while driving to the house of the woman in question. Her nervousness was so bad that Ashe had to take a few deep breathes in order to work up the nerve to knock.

When Kyl’il answered, Ashe saw that she was dressed down again – this time in an oversized t-shirt and leggings that hugged her thighs and cut off at her knees. Ashe wished she’d taken a few more deep breaths.

“Hi Ashe,” Kyl’il said “Charoth’s sleeping again.”

“I’m not surprised. He usually naps around this time.” Ashe was proud of herself for not sounding breathless.

“I was thinking that might be the case.” Kyl’il stepped aside. Ashe entered the house, closing the door behind her with a soft click. Kyl’il led the way into the living room, whispering, “The mess isn’t _that_ bad. What really takes me a while is cleaning the toys.”

“Cleaning the toys?”

Kyl’il nodded. “Small children like to stick things in their mouths. It’s important to keep the toys sanitary. I don’t want any kids getting sick because of my negligence.”

Ashe hummed a noise of understanding as she wandered over to where Charoth laid, once again, asleep on the couch.

Kyl’il watched as Ashe peered at him and lightly patted his head. She took a moment to admire Ashe’s figure – slight; her arms a bit muscular; tattoos on her biceps and a flash of the one that disappeared beneath the collar of her shirt, Kyl’il’s curiosity about that on in particular surging back with a vengeance; attractive.

Attractive.

Ashe was attractive.

Kyl’il flushed a bit at the thought, the breath leaving her lungs in an unsteady whoosh of air. The pace of her heartbeat had picked up. She placed a hand to her chest as if she could physically calm it down. She looked away from Ashe, her gaze settling on the floor, scattered with toys.

She cleared her throat. “I’m going to start with the stuffed animals then drag them into the laundry room, if you want to get the plastic toys?” She hoped she sounded normal because she certainly didn’t feel that way.

Ashe pried herself away from Charoth, joining Kyl’il in the center of the living room’s mess. “That sounds good to me,” she said. “Should I do anything with them when I finish putting them in their bin?”

Kyl’il covertly took a step away from Ashe. Her body felt like it was burning. “If you could just take them into the bathroom that’d be great. After I put the stuffed animals in the washer I’m going to run a bath to clean those in. It’s pretty heavy with all of the toys so if you need to drag it, that’s fine, you won’t scratch up my floor or anything.”

“Okay, cool.” Ashe, who’s nerves had been adequately settled by petting Charoth, smiled at her.

Kyl’il blinked, then her eyes set about fluttered all around the room; the fingers of the hand held to her chest clenched around the fabric of her shirt; and she turned away from Ashe abruptly, setting out on her task of picking up the stuffed animals. Ashe, who had no idea what that reaction could possibly mean, hesitantly moved to start picking up the plastic toys without commenting.

They each got busy, quickly becoming absorbed in the task of cleaning up, Ashe occasionally looking back at Charoth. Kyl’il finished picking up the stuffed animals first, being that there were less of them, and carried them off to the laundry room.

The hallway containing her bedroom had a few extra doors. A closet came first, followed by her room and a spare, then the laundry room, and at the end of the hallway was her bathroom. She pushed into the laundry room, the door already mostly ajar.

Once inside, she set the toy bin down and released a long sigh. She pressed her hands to her cheeks – palm sides first, then the backs, just to be safe – checking her temperature. Her body didn’t feel nearly as flushed as it had right after she’d come to the realization that Ashe was attractive, but it still made her feel better to double check; this way she could be certain on whether or not she actually had to worry about the possibility of Ashe being able to pick out a blush tinting her dark skin.

Assured that her face wasn’t nearly warm enough to betray her, Kyl’il rested her hands on the washer, sliding forward until she could drop her forearms to it. She leaned heavily, staring at the wall and attempting to gather her thoughts.

She thought about Ashe and how nice Ashe was and how she’d quickly come to enjoy her company and how sweet Ashe was with her son and how attractive Ashe was…

_Attractive._

__

__

Kind, funny, adorable.

_Attractive, attractive, attractive-_

Kyl’il shook her head, scattering her thoughts. She continued to stare at the wall. She drummed her fingers on the washing machine. She felt flushed again, flustered.

She bit down on her lower lip

_This couldn’t be…_ , she thought, hesitant. _No, no, no, no, no_. She pushed off of the washing machine, resolute. _Absolutely not, it couldn’t be_. Kyl’il opened the door to the washing machine and began throwing the stuffed animals in.

_Of course it couldn’t be_.

After all, she hadn’t gotten a crush in years.

When Ashe finished with picking up the plastic toys, she checked on Charoth one last time, making sure he was still sound asleep, before picking up the bin and wandering through the entryway and kitchen and into the hallway. There she paused. There were more doors than she’d been expecting. The sound of running water reached her from further down the hallway. She followed it, tentatively.

The sound got louder and louder, until she was certain that the bathroom must be hiding behind the last door. It was partially open so she pushed it the rest of the way with her foot, being careful not to accidently use too much force and slam it.

Inside, Kyl’il was kneeling in front of the bathtub, one hand in the water while the other squeezed a bottle of dish soap. Ashe walked in and set the bin she was carrying on the ground with a dull clatter of plastic hitting plastic as the toys were jostled.

Kyl’il looked at her over her shoulder. She pulled her hand out of the water, shaking drops of it off of her fingers, and angled her body more towards Ashe, setting the bottle of soap on the ledge of the bathtub. The smell of lemon grew strong as bubbles began to form in the water.

Kyl’il looked from Ashe to the bin and back and raised her eyebrows, absently wiping the last of the water off of her hand on a towel she had by her side. “I’m impressed. You’re definitely stronger than me if you can carry that.”

Ashe looked down at the bin, knee-high and filled almost all the way to its rim with toys, and shrugged. “If you think that’s impressive you should see my friend Gregor. I’ve got nothing on him, honestly. He does the lifting for himself _and_ Markus and he does it at the same time since he doesn’t like making more than one trip if he can help it.”

“Lifting enough for two people? Really?”

“Yeah.”

Kyl’il’s eyes scrunched up for a few moments, then she slowly shook her head. “I can’t imagine what that must look like.”

“It’s a _sight_ , that’s for sure. Personally, I have my doubts about if he’s completely human.”

Kyl’il laughed at that, small and quick, but her smile was dazzling. Ashe stared, caught herself staring, shifted her stare somewhere else. The bathroom was pretty small: a toilet, a sink across from it, and the bathtub against the far wall with a plastic shower-curtain pushed to the right and out of the way.

Ashe chose to look past Kyl’il at the bath, which now had a nice, thick layer of bubbles laying on top of the water. It also may have been looking a bit full, at least for something like toy cleaning.

“Um,” Ashe began, “how much water did you need?”

“Oh!” Kyl’il whipped around, saw the bath, said a soft, “Oh no,” and shut the faucet off.

Ashe grimaced. “Sorry, I distracted you.”

Kyl’il looked up at Ashe. “No, don’t worry about it. I like talking to you and it was my fault for forgetting. Besides, it’s just a little more water than usual, no big deal.”

“Yeah, right, no big deal, of course,” Ashe rambled, nodding dumbly, mentally someplace else. Her stomach was fluttering like crazy, ‘I like talking to you,’ echoing in her mind.

That was good; that was _great_ actually.

Kyl’il liked talking to her.

Kyl’il liked her.

Kyl’il must like her if she liked talking to her and Ashe’s crush on Kyl’il was having an absolute field day with this.

Ashe cleared her throat, gave her head a quick shake, trying to regain her composure. She hefted up the toy bin again, setting it closer to the bathtub. “Do you want me to dump these in or no?” Ashe asked. A subject change, she was certain, would be the best course of action.

Kyl’il brought the knuckle of her pointer finger to her mouth, thinking it over. Her mouth looked soft. Ashe took an unsteady breath and leaned against the sink.

Kyl’il came to a conclusion a moment later, slowly shaking her head. “If there was less water, maybe, but this,” she gestured towards the bath, frothy with popping bubbles, “is probably going to splash a lot if the toys get dumped inside.”

“Good point. Guess we’re putting them in by the handful then?”

Kyl’il nodded and Ashe lowered herself to her knees. They made quick work of placing the toys in the bath, then pushed the empty bin out of the bathroom.

Kyl’il spread out the towel she had at her side and passed Ashe a washcloth. “When you finish washing them just shake them off and set them on that towel to dry. They’re going to pile up, but that’s alright, they always dry fine.”

“Gotcha.”

While washing the toys, Ashe found herself hopelessly distracted. She and Kyl’il were very close. Their arms kept brushing. Kyl’il’s sweet, floral scent was settling over her. She wanted to move closer. Their knees were almost touching.

She wanted to move closer.

Kyl’il was feeling… complicated. She poured her attention into the toys she was busy cleaning, but a small part of her was overly conscious of Ashe. Overly conscious of how their arms kept brushing. Overly conscious of how close their hands would get sometimes when they both reached into the bath for a new toy.

Overly conscious of how long it’d been since the last time she’d held someone’s hand.

Touched them.

…Touched them.

Kissed them…

Oh.

Kyl’il froze. An image of kissing Ashe danced before her eyes.

Her body felt hot again, burning; fierce waves of embarrassment and desire.

She stood, dropping the toy and washcloth that were in her hands and making Ashe jump from the suddenness of it.

“Excuse me,” Kyl’il said. “I need a glass of water.” She ducked out of the room before Ashe could finish her faltering and quizzical, “Okay.”

Safe in the kitchen with a cold glass of water in her hand, pressed to her hot face, rather than being drunk from, Kyl’il felt that getting calm was going to take longer than she wanted it to. She whined softly in the back of her throat and dropped herself down on one of the chairs at her table.

What the literal hell and fuck? She’d already decided she couldn’t have a crush on Ashe, so what on earth was with that fantasy back there? She sighed, took a sip of the water, sighed again, brought the cup back up to her face.

Was it pent up frustration? Or could it actually be…

Kyl’il considered, thought really hard about it – about Ashe, about her past crushes, about her fantasy.

Another whine, louder this time, escaped her.

Oh, _god_. She did, didn’t she?

She had a crush on Ashe.


	4. Mutual pining and trees

Kyl’il had decided that the best thing to do was ignore her feelings. At least for the moment. She would rather form a proper friendship with Ashe, getting to know her well, before acting on potential romantic feelings, especially when those feelings were still nothing more than an insubstantial crush and the person they were for was her employer. If it grew into something more, well, she’d cross that bridge when she got there.

It was a bit of a struggle, but over the next couple days while Ashe helped her clean, Kyl’il managed to keep her cool, unlike the first day. She was more or less at peace with her crush, so any daydreams and thoughts about Ashe were no longer quite so startling. Kyl’il shook them off as best she could, given that they would stick to her like honey – thick and sweet and difficult to completely wash away without time for a thorough scrubbing.

Ashe, herself, didn’t seem to mind when Kyl’il found herself getting closer to her than necessary, touching her longer than necessary, watching her longer than necessary. In fact, sometimes she thought she caught Ashe doing the same, but then she wouldn’t be certain and she would tell herself she must have imagined it.

Ashe and the boys finished up the treehouse job two days after the first time she’d helped Kyl’il clean up. After that first day, Kyl’il’s strange behavior vanished and Ashe stopped thinking about it, eventually forgetting about it completely.

With the treehouse job complete and no particularly lengthy jobs lined up in the immediate future, Ashe _could_ have gone back to bringing Charoth along with her. She _could_ have, but she chose not to; she didn’t want to. She insisted to Firi and the boys that this decision was made because Charoth liked it at Kyl’il’s and would have more fun there than he could at jobs with them and that it had nothing to do with the fact that Ashe liked going there too.

Despite her brave and thorough attempt at convincing them that her feelings had played no part in her decision, though, her friends made it very obvious that they remained completely unconvinced – which was awful rude of them, if you asked Ashe. They could have at least pretended to buy the half-truth she was trying to sell, just to save her pride.

On the days that Ashe needed Kyl’il to babysit, which was most of them, Ashe would stick around for about an hour when she went to pick Charoth up. She’d help Kyl’il a little with the kids and she’d let Charoth drag her by the hand into his games and Ashe and Kyl’il would eat the snacks that Kyl’il gave to the children while they chatted.

Sometimes, Ashe came when Kyl’il was serving the kids lunch and sometimes, Ashe took Kyl’il up on her offer of making her something to eat, too. Within a few weeks, Ashe was going into Kyl’il’s kitchen and making her own lunch – and Kyl’il’s if she hadn’t eaten yet – like they’d been friends for years and raiding each other’s kitchens was completely acceptable behavior. Ashe even started bringing Kyl’il food items she’d noticed that Kyl’il was running low on.

It was comfortable.

It was nice.

Kyl’il always seemed to really like having Ashe around.

That was _really_ nice.

They talked about lots of things. Kyl’il would gush about different kinds of plants while Ashe listened, a rapt audience, and also brought up other likes and dislikes – for example, her love of candles and her less-than-love of Kyr, the latter kept light and to a minimum since Kyl’il knew that he was Ashe’s friend. Ashe, in turn, would tell stories about herself and the boys and brag about her first aid skills – which were phenomenal and, possibly, needed a distressing amount of the time – and talk about her hobby of carving wood – which she was trying to get better at.

.......................

Summer had moved into late July when Ashe came over and saw the kids gathered around the back corner of Kyl’il’s house. Foregoing the front door, Ashe stepped over the row of flowers lining the pathway and into the yard, making her way to the kids. Kyl’il was standing a few feet back from them, one hand on her hip, the other shielding her eyes as she, like the children, stared up. Ashe followed her line of sight as she walked up to Kyl’il, but couldn’t see anything other than the roof.

Kyl’il’s eyes flicked to Ashe as she got closer and she dropped her hand from her forehead to wave.

Ashe waved back and called, “What’s going on?” Ashe didn’t stop walking until she and Kyl’il were almost uncomfortably close in the heat of the July sun.

Kyl’il didn’t step back.

Charoth, alerted to Ashe’s presence when she’d spoken, ran over to her, latching onto her side. Ashe ran her fingers through his hair.

Kyl’il smiled at the action, then returned her gaze to the roof. “One of the children says she threw a ball and it got stuck on the roof. I was hoping I’d be able to see where it landed so I’d know where to put my ladder, but I think I’m just going to have to climb up and find it.”

Ashe looked up, now searching, and, yeah, no, she wasn’t able to see a ball from this angle either. What she did see, rather close to Kyl’il’s small house, was a large tree.

“You know,” Ashe mused, “I could totally get that ball for you, no hassle with a ladder needed.”

Kyl’il frowned at Ashe, confused but mildly intrigued. “And how on Earth would you do that?” she asked.

Ashe gestured towards the tree near Kyl’il’s house. “I’m _positive_ I could reach you roof from that tree.”

Kyl’il looked from the tree to her roof to Ashe, who was staring at her expectantly. How anyone could look so excited at the prospect of risking life and limb by launching themselves out of a tree, Kyl’il could not fathom.

With a brief laugh, more of surprise than amusement, Kyl’il said, “No, absolutely not.”

Ashe looked so disappointed that Kyl’il almost wished she’d agreed. But only almost. With a look like that, Kyl’il thought for sure that the subject would be dropped, but apparently at some point between Ashe making that face and Kyl’il turning to go to her shed, Ashe must have decided this was a suggestion worth fighting for.

“Now I know,” Ashe began, Kyl’il reluctantly turning back around, “that that idea would be completely stupid coming from anyone else, but I swear it isn’t from me.”

“No?”

“No.” Ashe appeared very proud of herself as she proclaimed, “I’m actually completely incredible at climbing trees.” Charoth, still at Ashe’s side, nodded his head in agreement.

A wide smile spread across Kyl’il’s face in response to how cute the two of them were. “I don’t doubt you, especially when you’ve got such adorable back up. But,” Kyl’il placed a hand on Ashe’s shoulder, her thumb rubbing absently on Ashe’s collarbone, “what would I do on the off chance you got hurt?”

Kyl’il felt certain that there was more than an ‘off chance’ of that happening, but she was okay with keeping that to herself. Ashe, for her part looked like she was coming around, though still not totally convinced.

Now wanting to further risk giving the rest of the children any ideas about climbing trees, Kyl’il leaned towards Ashe, put her lips close to Ashe’s ear – imagined kissing the shell of it, pushed that thought aside – and whispered, “I also don’t think that jumping from a tree to my roof would be such a great idea to do in front of impressionable children.”

Ashe absorbed… parts of that statement; enough to understand what sort of point Kyl’il had been trying to make. The rest of it was lost to Ashe’s distraction as Kyl’il’s breath tickled her ear and the floral scent of her muddied Ashe’s thoughts.

“Right, you’re right, of course,” Ashe mumbled. She took a step back. Kyl’il’s hand remained, heavy and warm, on her shoulder.

Kyl’il peeked back at the children, then leaned towards Ashe again. “If you promise _not_ to try jumping onto my roof I’d be okay with letting you climb the tree sometime though.” Added a bit hesitantly, “When we’re alone, maybe.”

Her thumb was still tracing, back and forth, over Ashe’s collarbone.

“Yeah,” Ashe replied, although she wasn’t certain Kyl’il’s statement had been meant as a question. She felt a bit dizzy. “I’d really like to hang out with you alone sometime.”

When Ashe pulled Markus aside the next day to ask if he could babysit Charoth on Saturday because she’d made plans with Kyl’il he stared at her for half a second before holding up a hand and saying, “Wait, wait, wait. You’re asking me to babysit Charoth so you can go hang out with Kyl’il?”

Ashe nodded. “If you’re free. If not, that’s fine. I’ll ask, uh,” Ashe weighed her options, “Firi, probably.”

“No, I’m free, I’ll do it. But, I mean – Kyl’il? As in your babysitter, Kyl’il? Aka the target of your huge crush?” Markus was looking increasingly excited with each word.

“…Yeah.” Ashe was starting to feel a bit nervous.

“Oh my god, Ashe. Oh my god!” Markus was sparkling, a wide grin spread across his face.

The second Ashe understood what he was so excited about she felt her face grow warm, flustered embarrassment spreading hot beneath her skin. “Calm _down_! It’s not like that!”

Markus did not look convinced. “What? Why not? You’re spending time alone with your crush and you’re not making some kind of move?”

Ashe opened her mouth, closed it, dragged her fingers through her hair, shifting her weight with the restlessness of ever growing embarrassment. When she started up again, her eyes were on the ground and her words came out in a flurry, “Even if I _wanted_ to, I wouldn’t know what to do.”

“That’s obvious. Seduce her.” This stated like it was nothing more than a simple fact.

Ashe looked up and stared at him, thinking he couldn’t possibly be serious. Markus stared back, appearing about as serious as she thought he was capable of being.

“Oh, god,” Ashe groaned. She brought a hand to her face; sighed. “Yeah, no, I’m think I’m just gonna go with my original plan of very much _not_ doing that.”

“But you can’t-”

Ashe dropped her hand from her face and held it up, indicating for Markus to stop. “I already told you, I don’t know the first thing about seduction. And besides, this is just a friend thing, anyway. She’s being friendly and inviting me over because we’re friends and I only ever see her when she’s working. It’s _nothing_ and I am _not_ about to attempt some pitiful excuse for seduction.”

“ _Ashe_.” Markus placed his hands on her shoulders. “Trust me, I think this’ll go well. _She_ asked _you_ out-”

“It’s not a date Markus,” Ashe interjected, her tone turned tired.

“Let’s not get into the semantics here,” Markus said, undeterred. “Anyway, _she_ asked _you_ out so she’s gotta be at least a little interested.”

Ashe, against her better judgement, felt a small spark of hope. “You think so?”

“Absolutely.” Seeing that he was reeling her in, Markus’s smile came back full force. “All you have to do it be your usual charming self. Give her compliments too, make her feel special and beautiful.”

Ashe thought about Kyl’il and sighed wistfully. Softly, she said, “She _is_ special and beautiful.”

One of Markus’s hands rose from Ashe’s shoulder to cover his mouth. “That is… the cutest thing I’ve ever heard you say.” He sounded choked up.

Ashe stared at him, incredulous. “Are you crying right now?”

“No,” Markus said as he swiped tears out of his eyes. “I’m just touched, okay? First love.” He sniffled. “How precious is that?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thought about writing through their "not date" but if that goes how I want it should be chapter length on its own


	5. Friendzoning your own damn self, plus a happy ending

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last half of this is unedited because I'm a lazy author, but here's hoping the ending turned out as cute as I wanted it to

Kyl’il had not been intending to ask Ashe to go out with her, but then the suggestion had been out of her mouth before she’d really thought about it. And when Ashe had agreed, Kyl’il had felt a fluttering happiness, soft and sweet and electric with anticipation.

It was relieving to know that Ashe saw no issue with the two of them spending time together outside of Kyl’il’s work, given that Ashe was technically her employer. An acquaintanceship formed by spending an hour or two together whenever Ashe came to pick up Charoth was one thing, but actually going out together felt like something else entirely. It felt… exciting.

The plan for the evening was bar-hopping, something Kyl’il hadn’t done since the last of her close friends had moved away. Ashe, herself, had mentioned that she hadn’t gone out in a few months – having been getting acclimated to having Charoth in her life and having not had anyone to watch him when her friends had planned to go out – but she’d assured Kyl’il that she was still very familiar with the best places to go. The general downtown area was going to be a bit of a drive from Kyl’il’s home and finding each other amid a throng of people wasn’t going to be easy, so Ashe was going to pick Kyl’il up. Ashe’s car would be left in one of the bars’ parking lots overnight and they’d take a taxi home.

Kyl’il was watching a couple of children today and her morning and afternoon passed relatively quickly. She wouldn’t be working tomorrow, Sunday being the day she tended to take off for herself unless a parent was particularly desperate, and because of that she didn’t feel much urgency to do her usual after-work chores – cleaning the toys, wiping down the nap mats, washing the dishes. However, knowing she’d need to do her weekly chores tomorrow as well, she at least got started – a lack of motivation making her move slower than normal.

The toys had all been picked up, the stuffed animal bin moved into the laundry room, and half of the nap mats wiped down when Kyl’il decided it was about time she started to get ready.

After a bit of deliberation, she threw on a dress – low-cut, short, her shoulders bare but for the dress’s thin spaghetti straps – and boots that came up to her knees. She dabbed perfume onto her pulse points and fixed her hair with her fingers, combing them through her bangs.

A text from Ashe announced that she was on her way and would be arriving soon. Kyl’il smiled softly, then set her phone back down.

She twisted this way and that in front of the mirror in her bedroom, checking from different angles to be sure she looked good, and, satisfied, she grabbed a jacket – just in case the night got cool – and her purse and went out into her backyard to wait. She sat on one of the yard swing that she had facing the house, letting the gentle breeze and hot sunshine act as a balm to her nerves.

Ashe had been getting ready for _hours_. The plan had been to go get Kyl’il around 7:00 p.m., that way they could do some window shopping for a while before getting to the drinking half of the evening – since it’d been so long since Kyl’il had gone out and had fun with anybody –, but then Markus had shown up early to, as he had put it, ‘be a good friend and help her get ready for her date.’ Ashe appreciated his efforts on her behalf, but she was feeling a lot more hindered than helped as they cycled through her wardrobe for the second time and she began to worry that he would make her late.

“Would you just pick something already?” Ashe said as she pulled a shirt on over her head.

Markus, his back turned to her, said, “I can’t ‘just pick something.’ It has to be perfect.”

“Yeah, well, at the rate you’re going I’m never going to leave my house.” Ashe huffed out a sigh. “You can turn around now.”

Three outfits later, Markus was finally satisfied and Ashe was just about ready to walk out the door – giving Charoth a goodbye kiss on his forehead and giving Markus some last-minute instructions. She was dressed in shorts, sandals, and one of her nicer shirts – nothing fancy, but still more put together than usual given that most of her clothes were appropriate for doing manual labor.

Markus wished her good luck. Ashe debated telling him, again, that this wasn’t a date, but decided, instead, to accept his well-wishing with a, “Thanks.”

When Ashe arrived at Kyl’il’s home she noticed a text telling her that Kyl’il was around back. Ashe contemplated letting her know that she was in her driveway, but figured going to get her would be more noticeable than the sound of a text notification going off.

Ashe saw Kyl’il lounging on her yard swing, the canopy pushed at an angle that let the sunlight hit her. Her hair was cast in a faint glow and her body was lit up; she looked absolutely breathtaking. Kyl’il perked up a bit when she noticed Ashe. She waved and stood up, gathering what looked like a jacket and her purse from her side.

Ashe waved back.

As Kyl’il walked over, Ashe noted that her dress was shorter than usual, the skirt falling no lower than mid-thigh. Ashe stared for a second, breathing out a faint, “Oh gee,” before looking pointedly at Kyl’il’s face. As usual, Kyl’il seemed happy to see her – a small smile on her lips and a light in her eyes that had developed over the course of the few weeks they’d known each other.

Ashe felt her heartbeat quicken.

She reminded herself that this was _not_ a date.

It didn’t help.

“You look really pretty today Kyl’il,” Ashe said as Kyl’il came to a stop in front of her, remembering Markus’s advice about making her feel beautiful. Ashe’s voice didn’t come out nearly as calm as she would have liked; too high-pitched to hide her nervousness. As soon as the words crossed her lips, she felt, decidedly, much too hot.

Kyl’il, for her part, began to smile wider. She bit down on her lower lip, as if to regain control of her mouth, before saying, “Thank you. You…” As she trailed off, a conflicted expression came over her face, uncertainty in her eyes.

Ashe watched curiously as she reached out a hand and seemed to come to a decision. For a moment Ashe thought Kyl’il was going to place her hand on her cheek, but instead it ended up as a comfortable weight on Ashe’s shoulder. Kyl’il gave a light squeeze, then let her hand slide off, her fingertips burning a trail down Ashe’s arm. Ashe watched as Kyl’il’s hand made its descent.

“You look very nice, too,” Kyl’il said.

Almost on instinct, Ashe caught Kyl’il’s hand with hers when Kyl’il’s fingertips brushed her pinkie. She stared at their joined hands for all of half a second before Kyl’il jerked her hand back, pulling Ashe’s with it. Ashe’s gaze shot up; she processed the surprise on Kyl’il’s face and immediately let go of her.

“I’m sorry,” Ashe began, a flash of panic at having done something wrong overtaking her.

“No, no,” Kyl’il cut in, stopping her before she got any further in her apology.

Kyl’il’s hand still felt warm from the short, short – much too short – time Ashe had been holding it. She reached out again and this time she _did_ grab Ashe’s face, like she’d wanted to in the first place. She cupped it between her hands, brushed her thumbs over Ashe’s cheekbones – a soothing motion. Ashe didn’t relax right away, but she did calm down some.

Kyl’il made sure to stare straight into Ashe’s eyes as she said, “I didn’t mind.”

Ashe blinked at her.

Ashe tried to remind herself that she and Kyl’il were friends.

It did nothing to ease her desire to pull Kyl’il’s face down to where hers was being held captive and press kisses to her mouth.

Ignoring that thought, Ashe drew in a shuddering breath. “You sure?” she asked.

Kyl’il nodded. “I was surprised at how suddenly you grabbed onto me is all. I don’t actually mind if you hold my hand.” As Kyl’il continued to hold onto Ashe, she fought back the urge to kiss her forehead or her nose.

Or her mouth.

Ashe’s face was a faint pink, her mouth parting around a soft, “Oh.”

Kyl’il wanted to kiss her.

She wanted to kiss her and hold her and tell her that she liked her.

She wanted Ashe to return her feelings.

She wanted Ashe to want her, too.

Another sweep of her thumbs over Ashe’s cheekbones and Kyl’il cleared her throat, breaking eye-contact with Ashe and retracting her hands from Ashe’s face.

She could be content with friendship. She _was_ content with friendship. She just… she couldn’t deny that she wished this outing she and Ashe were going on was actually a date.

Feeling a bit off, but no less excited for their evening, Kyl’il said, “It probably isn’t the time for this though. We should get going, right?”

Ashe felt a bit dazed; just as much from how Kyl’il had been holding her as from how swiftly Kyl’il had let her go. She brought a hand up to her hair, tugging on it and curling it around her fingers as she collected herself. “Yeah,” she said. “Yeah, we should go, it’s starting to get late.” Ashe turned, leading the way back to her car. Kyl’il followed after her, trailing behind a couple steps.

Ashe wished they were walking side-by-side.

Now that she had permission, she was itching to hold Kyl’il’s hand.

Once Ashe and Kyl’il reached downtown, Ashe parked her car at the first bar they would be visiting. From there, they spent their time wandering the shops, stopping around 10:00 p.m. when businesses were beginning to close.

Though Ashe had spotted multiple things she’d considered buying for Kyl’il, refraining only because she was afraid that suddenly giving Kyl’il presents might be odd, neither of them ended up buying anything – the only exception being a stop for ice-cream. Despite the lack of shopping, however, walking together from store to store – hand-in-hand – was plenty of fun in its own way.

The rest of the evening, ending around 2:00 a.m., was spent in a whirlwind of music and chatter and the press of strangers around them, in the bars and on the sidewalk when they moved on to a new place, and it finished up in a bit of a tipsy haze. Ashe was far from a light weight and Kyl’il didn’t seem to be one either, nor were either of them actively trying to get drunk, but, eventually, the alcohol began to have an effect on the both of them.

As it kicked in, personal space between Ashe and Kyl’il began to lose meaning. Holding hands changed to linking arms which later transformed into the two of them wrapping their arms around each other’s’ waists. Loud music made getting close to each other necessary in order to have any sort of cohesive conversation and they gradually ended up settling on a cheek-to-cheek, lips brushing ears as they spoke, sort of arrangement.

Ashe was the one to suggest going home. They had just left their fifth bar and Ashe knew of two more in the general vicinity that were worth visiting, but on the way out the door Kyl’il’s steps seemed too measured and careful and even with Ashe’s arm around her she managed to stumble.

Ashe walked Kyl’il away from the bar’s entrance and out of the way of the people walking on the sidewalk. Once she was certain they wouldn’t be disturbed or disturb others, Ashe asked, “Are you feeling okay?”

A few seconds later than what Ashe thought was natural, Kyl’il nodded. “Yes, I’m fine.” She made a face, seemed to reconsider her words. “Well, a little,” she made a vague gesture with her hand that Ashe took to be some sort of representation for how being tipsy felt, “but I’m fine.”

Ashe frowned, uncertain. “You sure? Because the last thing I want is for you to end up throwing up.”

Kyl’il considered that, her head tilted up just slightly and a hand pressed to her mouth. “What time is it?” she asked, returning her gaze to Ashe.

Ashe fumbled with her phone, pulling it out of her pocket and briefly getting blinded by the screen’s brightness. “It’s- Oh, wow. It’s after two in the morning.”

Kyl’il let out a soft hum of surprise. “Going home sounds like a _very_ good idea.”

During the taxi ride to Kyl’il’s house, Kyl’il played with Ashe’s hair. Faint music came from up front. Buildings and lights and people sped by outside the window, merging into homes where the dark blanket of night was more prevalent – the only light coming from scattered streetlamps, flashing stoplights, and the moon and stars – as they abandoned the downtown area.

Ashe and Kyl’il were pressed close together in the backseat of the taxi. This was by choice rather than out of necessity – Ashe having sat in the small middle seat intended for the use of children. Kyl’il’s fingers in her hair felt nice, threading through and gently tugging and twisting and twirling it absentmindedly with one hand while her other hand, between herself and Ashe, was being held by Ashe’s. The pleasant feeling of Kyl’il playing with her hair had Ashe resting her head on Kyl’il’s shoulder – vague thoughts of how it would be even nicer to lay on her lap dancing across her mind.

Much too soon, the taxi came to a stop in front of Kyl’il’s house. Kyl’il sluggishly disentangled herself from Ashe in order to pay their driver. As she opened the door, letting one leg dangle out in the warm night air, she turned back towards Ashe.

The moonlight hit her beautifully – a subtle radiance; soft around her body, caught up in her eyelashes, peeking through the strands of her hair. Her lipstick was smudged and her hair was messily windblown and she still appeared dazed. Ashe drew in a breath and let it out slowly.

“I had fun,” Kyl’il said. “We should do this again some time.”

Kyl’il gazed at Ashe as she listened to her speak. Kyl’il gazed at her and took in her disheveled appearance. Her hair was even fluffier than usual from Kyl’il having been touching it. There was a faint red mark on her cheek from how she’d been resting her head on Kyl’il’s shoulder. The topmost button that she’d had closed on her shirt had come undone at some point. Her hand lay on the seat that Kyl'il had just vacated and Kyl'il wished that she hadn't had to let it go. Her own hand felt empty and cold now that it wasn't holding Ashe's.

Not thinking, Kyl'il began to lean forward.

Ashe had intended on replying to Kyl'il with something to the effect of, "Sure, definitely," and, "I had a great time, too," but the words died in her throat when Kyl'il leaned in a pressed a kiss to her cheek.

Kyl'il pulled away with a, "See you later," and slipped out of the car, closing the door behind her with a dull slam.

Ashe would have just sat there for a while had the driver not interrupted her flustered bewilderment with, "So, where to?" effectively bringing her back to herself as she scrambled to remember her address.

On the way to her house, Ashe frantically texted Markus; all caps and way too many typos.

Instead of receiving a reply, Ashe got a call. She answered and had to rip her phone away from her ear because Markus was screaming – loudly, excitedly, unintelligibly, and hopefully nowhere Charoth would overhear since he was supposed to be asleep at this hour.

The screaming finally abated, replaced with a, "She kissed you!?" spoken so loudly that Ashe could hear him clearly even with her phone held a decent distance away from her.

Ashe looked at her phone warily, then tentatively gave him confirmation, hesitant to bring her phone anywhere near her ears. Her fears were confirmed when the screaming immediately started up again, possibly even louder than it had been the first time.

.......................

Kyl'il entered her house and locked the door behind her. She removed her boots, briefly rubbing her aching heals. Her jacket, keys, and purse were dropped on the table in her kitchen as she made her way into the room. She stood still for a couple seconds, debating whether or not getting a glass of water could wait – the final decision being that she may as well get it while she was already in the kitchen.

Glass in hand, Kyl'il took a long drink as she walked down the hallway to her bathroom. The bathroom light was harsher that the rest of the lights in her house and it made her tired eyes ache. Squinting, with a soft groan, Kyl'il set her water on the sink and washed her hands – ridding them of the sticky, dirty feeling they'd developed over the course of the evening because of everything she'd been touching.

Not bothering to dry her hands, Kyl'il set about brushing her teeth. As she was spitting into the sink, she realized her mistake.

She froze.

She stared into the sink as her toothpaste was washed down the drain as though she was petrified.

_Did I..._ , The thought came slow with disbelief. _Did I just kiss Ashe_?

Kyl'il wiped her mouth off with the back of her hand, rinsed it under the running water from the faucet, and put her toothbrush away, her movements jerky with the fear that was washing over her.

She turned the faucet off.

Her hands still sopping wet, water dripping from her fingertips to the floor, Kyl'il sat down on her toilet.

She pressed her lips tightly together.

She had kissed Ashe.

The knowledge sent a thrum of energy through her body – panic coursing through her veins and excitement, taking the form of anxious butterflies, in her stomach.

She had kissed Ashe.

It'd been on the cheek and little more than a peck, but a kiss was a kiss.

She had kissed Ashe.

Kyl'il placed a hand to her lips, drops of water slipping between them and down her chin. While half of her desperately wished she’d realized what she was doing and stopped herself, the other half wished she’d savored it longer.

She had kissed Ashe.

She’d kissed her. She’d kissed her even though they were just friends. She’d kissed her on what she’d wished was a date. She’d kissed her goodbye. She’d kissed her and wanted to apologize. She’d kissed her and wanted to kiss her again. 

Kyl’il had kissed Ashe and now she didn’t know what to do.

.....................

Sunday was quiet.

Kyl’il was alone with her thoughts. Her chores served as little distraction and focusing on the book she was reading proved difficult. She thought about texting Ashe. She thought about it and thought about it and frequently caught herself staring at her phone.

She thought about it, but she wasn’t sure what she could possibly say.

The stillness of the air was suffocating.

Ashe wasn’t sure how a park filled with children could feel that way, but there was no denying that it did. Euphoria from the other night had quickly faded into confusion and today, hopped up on three cups of coffee – necessary in order to feel alive because once early morning had come around Charoth had woken her up –, Ashe was anxious.

Her thoughts kept spinning faster and faster because what did that kiss on the cheek even mean?

Maybe it was a friend thing. Kyl’il had never done anything like that before, but it _could_ be a friend thing. Theoretically. Kyl’il had been tipsy, after all. What if she was just an affectionate drunk? Ashe didn’t want to make assumptions.

What Ashe wanted was answers. She wanted to know what that kiss had meant, she just… didn’t want to imply that Kyl’il might have feelings for her when she asked about it. And if she was wrong, she definitely didn’t want to put Kyl’il in the awkward position of dealing with a parent that she worked for harboring a one-sided crush.

Ashe wanted to ask, her phone feeling heavy in her pocket, but she wasn’t sure how.

Indecision formed a vast, heavy weight on both Kyl’il and Ashe and when Sunday passed, nothing had been resolved. On Monday morning, Ashe dropped Charoth off at Kyl’il’s house. Neither of them spoke about the kiss and in no time at all, things between them went back to normal.

The kiss was thoroughly brushed aside, though it was never forgotten.

.......................

The next time Ashe and Kyl’il were alone, the year was moving into mid-August. Despite Kyl’il having said that they should go out together again, neither of them had attempted to plan anything. Their getting together this Sunday was impromptu.

Kyl’il called Ashe, asking, “Could you help me with something?”

Ashe, who was with Charoth at Markus’s house, peered back into the living room that she’d vacated to take the call. Gregor was here, as well, and both he and Markus had taken up the task of entertaining Charoth. None of them had anything much to do, so gathering at Markus’s had been an attempt at fighting off boredom.

“Probably,” Ashe answered. “What’s wrong?”

“Well, there’s a hole in my wall.”

“A hole?”

“A big one. I’m pretty sure I have everything I need to take care of it, but I’ve never fixed something like this before and I’m afraid I’ll make it look bad.”

“Ah.” Ashe nodded, though Kyl’il couldn’t see it. “Gotcha. Yeah, I can totally help you fix that.”

“Thank you.”

“No problem. But, uh, can I ask _how_ you got a hole in your wall?”

The other end of the line went dead.

Ashe pulled her phone away from her ear, made sure she hadn’t accidently bumped ‘end,’ then brought it back with a, “Hello?”

“I’m here,” Kyl’il said, her tone sounding resigned. “I was trying to come up with a less lame way to tell the story, but I don’t think one exists.” Ashe could practically hear the grimace in her voice as she said, “I fell.”

“You fell so hard you broke your wall?”

“Not exactly, though the fall was definitely _some_ thing. The glass in my hand did more of the wall breaking.” Kyl’il sighed. “It shattered when it hit, so there might be some glass in the hole. I hope that won’t be a problem.”

“Wait, it shattered?” Ashe was suddenly very concerned. “Like, in your hand? While you were holding it? You didn’t land on glass, did you? Are you okay?” Ashe could hear Kyl’il laughing lightly as her questions quickly turned into a bombardment.

Once her laughter tapered off, Kyl’il said, “I’m fine. My palm is a little cut up, but I’m fine. My wall is what got badly damaged, not me.”

Ashe, still a bit worried about what ‘a little cut up’ meant, said, “Oh. Well, I don’t want you to get any more hurt than you already are, so don’t touch anything, please. I’ll be there soon.”

A final, “Thank you,” from Kyl’il and they were hanging up. Ashe told the guys that she had somewhere to be, asking if they would be okay with watching Charoth while she was gone. Neither of them had a problem with it and Ashe was out of the door in a matter of minutes.

After being let into Kyl’il’s house, the first thing Ashe checked on was Kyl’il’s hand. A greeting was barely out of her mouth before she was grasping for it, delicately grabbing the one wrapped in bandages that covered her palm and a couple of her fingers. She could see blood had seeped into the bandages, but there wasn’t enough to raise alarm.

When Kyl’il opened her door for Ashe, she was not expecting her hand to be seized. The suddenness of it startled her some, but after realizing what Ashe was doing she let her examine it, watching her fondly as she did so.

Relief settled over Ashe’s features as she released Kyl’il’s hand, seeming satisfied with her inspection of it.

“I told you I was alright,” Kyl’il said, softly. That Ashe had been so worried about her caused a warm, fuzzy feeling to curl up in her chest.

Self-consciousness descended over Ashe. She took a step back from Kyl’il and began fiddling with her fingers. “I believed you. I just,” Ashe shrugged, “couldn’t help but worry.”

Kyl’il smiled at her. “That’s so sweet of you.”

Ashe cleared her throat, her gaze diverted to the floor. She changed the subject, asking, “Where was the hole?”

Annoyance spreading across her face, Kyl’il pinched the bridge of her nose. “It’s in the kitchen. I’ll show you.”

The hole was visible from the moment Ashe crossed the threshold. Ashe let out a low whistle. It wasn’t the biggest hole she’d ever seen busted through a wall, but it was definitely decently sized.

She got to work right away, Kyl’il assisting her with a few basic things, and managed to finish up within a couple hours.

Afterwards, Ashe was leaning against Kyl’il’s counter, telling the last bit of a story she’d been in the middle of when she’d declared the wall fixed – an account of the time she’d stolen the wallet of a guy that had tried to, and failed miserably at, mugging her. Kyl’il was laughing, loud and hard, and Ashe’s laughter was feeding off of hers, making it impossible for her to tell the last couple words of her story.

It took a while, but they both eventually started to calm down and Ashe found herself very aware of how Kyl’il’s chest was rising and falling unsteadily as she tried to catch her breath, her shoulders still shaking, and her teeth biting into her bottom lip as she attempted to prevent stray giggles from slipping out. Her hair was thoroughly disheveled.

Ashe wanted to kiss her.

The urge surged up and pushed aside the last of Ashe’s amusement. In its place rose heated embarrassment and desire. She gripped the counter behind her, dizzy.

Kyl’il breathed a few calming breaths, pressed a hand to her chest. Once her eyes focused, they quickly turned concerned, noting Ashe’s tight grip on the counter.

“Are you okay? Do you need to sit down?” Kyl’il asked, taking a few steps towards Ashe. As usual, the scent of flowers clung to her, making Ashe’s head swim even worse than before. It’d been a while since she’d wanted to kiss Kyl’il quite so badly.

Ashe licked her lips, shook her head, said a breathless, “I’m fine.”

Kyl’il, looking skeptical, placed her unhurt hand on Ashe’s shoulder, her thumb rubbing in a soothing motion. Ashe leaned more heavily against the counter. Her pulse was thundering.

“Are you sure?”

Ashe made a soft noise of affirmation, nodding. She gave a short laugh and said, “Looks like it’s your turn to worry about me now,” her words coming out stronger than before. She pushed herself off of the counter, pulled away from Kyl’il. The hand that was on her shoulder slipped off, fingertips brushing her bicep and making her shudder. They stared at each other. “The guys are expecting me back.”

“Oh.” Kyl’il smiled. “If you have to go I don’t want to keep you.” A pause. Kyl’il ruffled her fingers through her hair, an action Ashe found herself very distracted by. “We _do_ need to plan another outing though. You know, I really like you, Ashe.”

Kyl’il sounded so sincere when she said it that Ashe felt her heart stop. She rubbed at the back of her neck. “I really like you too, Kyl’il.”

Ashe thought about how Markus’s anguished monologue when he’d learned nothing was going to come of Kyl’il having kissed her. She thought about his insistence that she had a chance and should just try to ask Kyl’il out. She thought about how badly she wanted to kiss Kyl’il and hold her and get to know her even better and how very, very much she wanted to date her.

Before Ashe could change her mind, she charged on saying, “Like, _really_ like you. Um,” the hand on the back of her neck curled into her hair, tugging sharply; Kyl’il was watching her, curiously as she went on, “I would even date you?” Nervousness sent the pitch of Ashe’s voice up a few notches and she cleared her throat. “What I’m trying to say is, if it’s alright, could our next outing be… a date?”

Kyl’il stared at Ashe, astonished.

“Not that it has to be,” Ashe rushed to say, her hands moving wildly with her words. “Friends is cool. Friends is great. Geez I hope this won’t make things awkward-”

“Yes,” Kyl’il said, cutting her off.

Ashe stopped, mouth still open, waiting for words that were no longer going to come. She floundered for a moment, finally settling on, “What?”

“Yes.” Kyl’il grabbed Ashe by the shoulders. “Yes, I’ll date you. I’ll go on a date with you.” A wide smile lit up her face. “I’ll be your girlfriend.” Her hands slid up Ashe’s neck to cup her face.

Ashe was still a bit dumbfounded. That had been _too_ easy. Much too easy. If it was going to be that easy, what had she been waiting for? “You actually want to? This is… okay?”

Kyl’il nodded. “If I’m being honest, I’ve liked you for a while.”

“Then that kiss was…?”

Kyl’il’s eyes flickered over to Ashe’s cheek. “I slipped up.” Ashe hesitantly placed her hands on Kyl’il’s hips. “You’re just so wonderful and beautiful.”

Ashe snorted, amused and embarrassed and touched. “I could say the same about you.”

Kyl’il’s smile softened, a gentle happiness taking the place of the elation into her eyes. “Can I kiss you Ashe?”

Ash’s gaze dropped to Kyl’il’s mouth, the urge to kiss her surging back up with a vengeance. “I would _love it_ if you kissed me.”

Kyl’il lightly bumped their forehead’s together, nuzzling her nose against Ashe’s – all affection and sweetness – before tilting her head and pressing a kiss to her mouth. It was short, Kyl’il’s mouth as soft as Ashe had thought it would be, and then Kyl’il was pulling back, her breath hitting Ashe’s lips.

Ashe followed after her, pressing their mouths together again, wrapping her arms around Kyl’il to pull her close. Kyl’il’s fingers threaded through Ashe’s hair and this time the kiss was long and slow and indulgently thorough. They didn’t draw apart until they had to, their lungs screaming with the need to breathe, and a few quick kisses followed afterwards before they finally stopped.

When Ashe went back to Markus’s house, Kyl’il came with her. She wasn’t busy and neither of them really wanted to be apart at the moment. Markus was delighted to meet her and Gregor was as well, though, in comparison, he was much less enthusiastic. Charoth was confused at Kyl’il’s sudden appearance, but happy to see her nonetheless. They all spent a few hours together, chatting and playing with Charoth.

The sun was starting to set once Ashe took Kyl’il back home. Charoth was asleep in the backseat, so Ashe walked her up to her door. The pink glow of the sunset and the strong smell of flowers in the air were as sweet and heady as their kiss goodbye and whispered promises to get together again soon.


End file.
